‘Mental’ musings

“Mental,” a procedural show offered in a psychiatric ward premiering tonight on Fox, gives us exactly what you’d expect. Instead of House solving the disease of the week or a cop solving the crime of the week, we now have a psychiatrist solving the mental illness of the week. Of course, that’s slightly unfair. He makes the turning point of the week with his patients because you can’t solve mental illness in a week. (In reality, I doubt there are many turning points made in the space of a week, either.) Still, if you put the ludicrous nature of the premise aside, the show is enjoyable enough. Star Chris Vance (Whister on “Prison Break”) is charming enough (and his resemblance to a young Sting is eerie) as Dr. Jack Gallagher, who brings his maverick ways to the clinic, upsetting the status quo. Annabella Sciorra is his boss, who may have a thing for him. Oh, and Jack has some deep, dark personal secret because you can’t be a show called “Mental” without ripping something off from “The Mentalist.” I’m thinking Fox doesn’t have much faith in this series based on the post-season premiere.